Yahoo – AFP,
Mariette Le Roux, 31 July 2015
Paris (AFP) - An Ebola test vaccine provided blanket protection in a field trial in Guinea, said researchers Friday, possibly heralding "the beginning of the end" for the devastating West African outbreak that has killed thousands.
The World
Health Organization began human trials of the VSV-ZEBOV
vaccine across Guinea
in March 2015 (AFP Photo/Cellou Binani)
|
Paris (AFP) - An Ebola test vaccine provided blanket protection in a field trial in Guinea, said researchers Friday, possibly heralding "the beginning of the end" for the devastating West African outbreak that has killed thousands.
The serum
was 100-percent effective, after a week, in more than 7,600 people innoculated,
according to results published in The Lancet and hailed as "extremely
promising" by World Health Organization (WHO) chief Margaret Chan.
Health
workers assist an Ebola patient at
the Kenema treatment centre in Sierra
Leone
run by the Red Cross Society, on
November 15, 2014 (AFP Photo/Francisco
Leong)
|
"The
initial results of the study show that the vaccine can effectively contain the
further spread of the Ebola virus," said the University of Bern, which
contributed to the research.
Though
encouraging, the results are "interim" and the vaccine will not
become immediately available as a community-wide Ebola shield, experts
cautioned.
About
28,000 people have been infected in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia since late
2013, according to the WHO. Nearly half have died, but there is thought to be a
large undercount of cases and deaths.
Having
brought an already fragile health sector to its knees, and driving out
much-needed investment, the outbreak has started winding down but is not over.
Seven cases
were confirmed the week ending in July 26 -- four in Guinea and three in Sierra
Leone -- the lowest weekly total for over a year.
But even a
single undetected case can spark a flareup -- the virus spreads through direct
contact with body fluids.
"An
effective vaccine will be another very important tool for both current and
future Ebola outbreaks," said Chan.
Liberian
health workers burn clothes
belonging to patients at an Ebola clinic in
Monrovia, as the virus raged West Africa
in 2014 (AFP Photo/Pascal Guyot)
|
None of the
vaccinated group caught the virus.
A second,
comparison group of 3,528 people received the vaccine three weeks after
potential exposure. Sixteen of them contracted the virus while unprotected,
said the study, but by day six after innoculation, everyone in the second group
was also fully shielded.
"Indeed,
no vaccinee developed symptoms more than six days after vaccination,
irrespective of whether vaccination was immediate or delayed," said the
study paper.
The vaccine
was safe, with no serious side-effects, according to the study.
Not known
is how long the protection lasts, or the vaccine's effect on pregnant women and
children -- high risk groups not included in the trial.
One of two
leading vaccine candidates, VSV-ZEBOV has been developed and tested in a
super-quick 12 months, compared to the normal decade or more. Ebola has no
licensed cure or treatment either.
Sierra
Leonean health officials check for
the Ebola virus on passengers at a border
crossing with Liberia in Jendema, on
March 28, 2015 (AFP Photo/Zoom Dosso)
|
The Lancet
said the Guinea trial would continue gathering evidence of the VS-ZEBOV's
effectiveness and safety.
"The
vaccine is not yet licensed. More data on efficacy are needed before it can be
widely deployed," said an editorial in the medical journal.
Even then,
it may be better used not to try and prevent outbreaks, but to limit virus
spread once there is one, and for protecting healthcare workers -- the group at
highest risk.
"The
major problem is the very sporadic appearance of Ebola virus in outbreaks which
are unpredictable in terms of where and when they might next appear,"
Andrew Easton, a virology professor at the University of Warwick, told AFP.
And the
cost of mass vaccination to cover all eventualities would be prohibitive.
Disease
experts welcomed the results.
"This
is big news -- the most promising medical development so far in the ongoing
race to shut down Ebola," Benjamin Neuman, a virologist with the
University of Reading, told AFP.
Liberian
doctor Francis Kateh (right)
volunteered to receive a trial vaccine
against Ebola at Redemption Hospital on
the outskirts of Monrovia, on February 3,
2015
(AFP Photo/Zoom Dosso)
|
The trial
used a so-called "ring" approach -- the same used to eradicate
smallpox in Africa in the 1970s. First to be vaccinated are people who had been
in close contact with an Ebola patient, then those at a slightly more indirect
risk, and so on.
"Where
rings have been vaccinated... the transmission has stopped," WHO assistant
director-general Marie-Paule Kieny told journalists in Geneva.
"Prior
to the vaccination there were cases, cases, cases. The vaccination arrived, 10
days later no cases."
For one of
the trial researchers, Matthias Egger, the trial proved not only the
effectiveness of the vaccine, but also of the ring strategy.
"This
could finally be the beginning of the end of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa
and also be useful when combating this disease in the future," he said.
Related Article:
“ .. The Role of Gaia in Human Consciousness
One of those times might be frightening for you to know about, since it was a full cooperation with Gaia for your termination, and a pandemic almost wiped humanity off the map. A pandemic! Now, you say, "What has that got to do with Human consciousness, Kryon?" Pay attention, dear ones, because this is the day where the teaching was given by my partner, and he put together the Nine Human Attributes. One of the attribute sets included three Gaia attributes and one of them was the consciousness of the planet. Gaia is related to Human consciousness!
Are you starting to connect the dots? You are connected to this planet in a profound and spiritual way. As goes humanity goes the planet's consciousness. Gaia, Mother Nature, whatever you want to call it, cooperates with Human consciousness. If you spend 1,000 years killing each other, then Gaia will do its best to cooperate with your desires! Gaia will look at Human consciousness and try to help with what you have shown you like to do! Did you know this role of Gaia with you? It's a partner with you, fast tracking what you give to it. You may wish to review what the indigenous of the planet still understand. Gaia is a partner!
Pandemic: Don't you find it odd that in the last 50 years, when you have a population of seven billion Human Beings, with up to 2,000 airplanes in the air at any given moment, going between almost every conceivable place, that there has not been a pandemic in your lifetime? There have been five starts of potential pandemics over the last 20 years, yet none became serious. Did any of you put this together? Dear ones, when the world was far less populated a few hundred years ago, with no mass travel to spread a virus, there were still millions wiped out by a pandemic. With the increased population and mass travel, there is far more danger today than before. It doesn't make sense, does it? What happened to stop it?
When you know humanity's relationship to Gaia, it makes sense. Gaia is a life-force that is your partner, watching you change the balance of light and dark and reflecting what Humans want. It has polarity, too! Perhaps it's time to start your meditations with thanking your planet Earth for supporting you in the spirituality of your Akash, for always being with you, a life-force that is always present. The ancients started their ceremonies in that way. Have you forgotten?
Ebola
Now, I've just set the stage for the next subject, haven't I? Ebola. Are you afraid yet? Gaia is a life-force that is a part of Human consciousness. My partner put it on the screen today so you could see the connections [during the lecture series]. Now it's time to connect the dots. Dear one, Gaia is in the battle, too, for here comes something scary that you haven't had in your lifetime and you're afraid of it - the potential of a pandemic on the planet.
There's a very famous film that has some dialogue that my partner will quote. Some of you will know it and some of you won't, but here it is: "Have a little fire, scarecrow?" What are you afraid of? Darkness? Gaia is in the battle with you and is actively pursuing solutions through light. The energy of the planet is with you in this fight! The ebola virus is a shock and a surprise. It is propelled by ignorance and fear, so it can flourish. Look at where it started and look at how it gets its ability to continue. It expands its fear and power easily with those who believe it's a curse instead of those who understand the science.
Villages are filled with those who refuse to leave their family members because they believe the disease is a curse! FEAR! Instead of understanding that they should be in isolation from the virus, the family dies together through ignorance and fear. This represents how darkness works. Are you going to become afraid also? Dear ones, ebola will be conquered. Know this and be at peace. Pray for light for those in the villages who are afraid, that they can know more about how to keep the spread of this disease and live to see their families. .”
Villages are filled with those who refuse to leave their family members because they believe the disease is a curse! FEAR! Instead of understanding that they should be in isolation from the virus, the family dies together through ignorance and fear. This represents how darkness works. Are you going to become afraid also? Dear ones, ebola will be conquered. Know this and be at peace. Pray for light for those in the villages who are afraid, that they can know more about how to keep the spread of this disease and live to see their families. .”
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